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Hey Dark Mod team: I'm sure you are probably already aware of this, but just in case, for information sharing purposes...

Open up AICore.t3u. In a hex editor or notepad even - there's plenty of untouched plain text to see. Anyway, in searching around for new stuff to modify (unsuccessfully so far), I found out that this file could be very useful for listing the possible states for AIs. Here's an example of what can be found within.

EVIDENCE_TACTILE, // generic tactile evidence (bumped by player or got hit with a box or something)

// various stimulus-based evidence types

EVIDENCE_STIMULUS_DAMAGE, // received damage
EVIDENCE_STIMULUS_GASSED, // damaged by poison gas
EVIDENCE_STIMULUS_SHOCKED, // took shock damage
EVIDENCE_STIMULUS_BLINDED // blinded
};
-----------------
Etc. There's a ton of it. Hope that can be of some use for ideas at least.

On an unrelated note, I also found this:

ChanceToPlayDeathAnimBeforeRagdoll

Whoa! ...too bad I've been unable to figure out what to do next with it.

Same, AICore.t3u. I've done a bit-by-bit search of the entire install folder, though, and found it nowhere else except there (twice).

Here's the full definition:

var(AIDeath) inherited(2101) float ChanceToPlayDeathAnimBeforeRagdoll "When an AI dies, it will play death animations before ragdolling this percentage of the time (expressed as 0 to 1)";

But... what the hell to do with that? I tried searching blindly on "2101" and obviously many references are found. Beyond that, I dunno what the heck to do. I assume it's per-AI, so that would mean their info is contained in the map files, which are compiled(??) So we might be shit-outta-luck, even with that info.

Incidentally, does anyone know if the AIs start to death animate before ragdoll on late missions? Maybe it's something Ion implemented late, and couldn't get time (or approval) to go back and modify the early maps for.

Have you guys considered HL2 perhaps as a superior platform for The Dark Mod? I don't personally know much about the specifics, as I haven't been following HL2 closely. However, looking at HL1 editing, it sure took off (in a huge way) for some reason...

Sure wish Ion^H^H^H id would hurry the hell up with the SDK.

The ID SDK is already out. I doubt that we ever will see an SDK form ION. the best we could hope for is an editor.
As for HL2. Personally I never cosnidered it. D3 has much more advantages for me. The foremost is: It will run under Linux. At least as soon as I get a driver for my Audigy 2 ZS under Linux.
Another big advantage of D3 is: It's alread there. We can work on it. HL2 is not there yet apart from that early release, but I don't know how reliable that one is. But to me, the biggest advantage is Linux. And I don't htink that HL2 will add so much more to the Thiefy game. D3 can handle all what we need quite nicely.

So we could get sued for using intellectual property in a manner that gives us absolutely no financial gain?

That's kinda like me getting sued for drawing a picture of Garrett and posting it here.

Sure. If you just make a drawing of Garrett nobody can sue you. If you take the entire mechnics and names and eversthing, then it will be more likely. Doesn't mean that it has to, but we shouldn't take the risk for such petty details on Laywers will fret about. I don't mind if my thief is called Garrett or Carrot as long as the gameplay is fun.

Yep - it takes away from projected sales, basically. All Ion Storm (or Eidos) would have to prove is that they could have made money by making a Thief game for the Doom 3 engine. Thus, we'd be taking away from anticipated sales.

Are fans allowed to suggest what they want to see in the mod? Can you guys plz make it public who is working on what department so that one can request directly to the respective member and correspondance becomes quicker??

Are fans allowed to suggest what they want to see in the mod? Can you guys plz make it public who is working on what department so that one can request directly to the respective member and correspondance becomes quicker??

Personally I don't mind getting suggestions. I already suggested that we should create a Feature request forum for the public forum part, but it was turned down. You should talk to Fingernail about that, as I still think it is a good idea. Of course putting your request doesn't mean that we will implement everything, but it helps to get some input from as many people as possible.

As for who is working on what: Fingernail is the Project leader, Springheel is the Creative Director, pakmannen (I think he has another name on this board though) is the Sounds Director. I'm in charge of the programming (Head of Programming as we call it ). So if you have specific suggestions in one area you can contact us. You should probably do this on the DarkMod board though, because I don't look here to often as I'm busy with the mod.

You could also post suggestions in the public forum on the board, but I would pester Fingernail for a public Feature Request board (I hope he doesn't read this. ). If you post a feature request on the normal board, then you should include something like FEATURE REQUEST in the subject. Otherwise it may go under with the other threads.

I don't think it is a good idea to contact every member individually as it may lock up the communication a bit. The best thing is to post it in the public forum or go through the project lead.

Email me. If I get any post, I always make a postbag thread for the members to discuss. For instance, we had one from someone who doubted the decision not to make a campaign from the outset.

Over on ION I found a very detailed posting about feature requests. Some 20 points on it. The nice thing is that he gave for every rationale a good reason why it could help gameplay. Maybe I can find it again. I don't rember the name.

"Darkness Falls - Sound/Music Man, has done some really nice ambient mockups so far...I'm looking forward to more of his stuff."

Ahh, my friend, you forgot I was originally hired on to do concept drawings. Although I haven't cranked out many drawings yet, I've done some and will hopefully be able to step it up a notch soon ;o) Helping out with sounds was kind've an extra (bonus) DarkMod request of mine that was granted

I'm willing to take up at least half of that torch, but just about anyone that wants to contribute to story is more than welcome to. I've already got a few good ideas and a couple of characters already bouncing around in the old noggin.

But mind you this isn't gonna be important til the 2nd half of the mod, right now we're just building the basework for the FM platform. For now we're just gonna make a couple of freestanding missions instead of a full campaign, and I can write the stories for those easily.

And Darkness...I dunno how I could've forgotten that you were a concept artist too. I based a bit of the gallery around that one pic you did awhile back.

Hey, what about Story/Writing department? Its THE most important for any Thief game.

The DarkMods primary aim is to create the tools for FM authors. Not to create a campaign ourselve. Of course we might do one when we are finished, but that is yet some time in the future. First we have to get the basic gameplay mechanics working.

awesome

Parallel development, man!

I'll try to remember to prod you guys once I've recovered from writing the book.

I've got lots of programming experience, too (and with OO things, including C++), so I should be able to help implement some of the campaign bits, too... assuming I have any time to learn the DOOM 3 SDK.

I'm hoping DOOM 3 will have dropped in price a bit by then so my wife doesn't flip out when I buy another copy (I sold the first one I bought because I didn't want to play it , but this mod is pulling me back).